5 Best Fertilizer For Gardenias Review And Buying Guide

The best fertilizer for gardenias can give these beautiful but picky plants the suitable condition to keep their attractiveness. 

Today, we have compiled a list of some suggestions for your consideration to take care of gardenias. Of which, the Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Azalea is our best overall acid fertilizer for gardenias. 

It delivers instant and effective feeding results of fertilizing gardenias. Plus, it is high-nutrient plant food for gardenia plants.

And before we dive into knowing our suggestions, take a look at our buying guide to see what you should consider before buying fertilizer for gardenias.

A Complete Review On The Best Fertilizer For Gardenias

Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Azalea – Best Overall

Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Azalea is our first suggestion. What makes it stand out from other options is its instant and effective result in feeding your plants green leaves and beautiful blooms.

This gardenia fertilizer can help acid-loving plants like gardenias, azaleas, and camellia. It is rich in nutrients that your gardenias need for their growth. 

Plus, it is pretty easy to use. You can mix this water-soluble fertilizer with water and then apply the combination by a sprayer or a watering can every 1-2 weeks.

Remember to soak the plant’s base to ensure this plant food makes its way down to the soil to the roots. 

We don’t have any complaints about this plant food.

What we like

• A speedy and effective result
• Rich in nutrients for gardenias
• Easy to use

What can be improved?

• None

Miracle-Gro Shake’ N Feed Plant Food – Best For Consistent Feeding

Our runner-up is the Miracle-Gro Shake’ N Feed. We highly recommend this plant food for its capability to release feeding for up to three months consistently. 

Accordingly, you will not need to apply this Miracle-Gro for acid-loving plants frequently. Plus, it provides natural ingredients for the microbes in the soil so that your plants can get the ideal condition.

This versatile plant food can work with all shrubs, flowering trees, and acid-loving plants, including gardenias.

The last point we like about this fertilizer for gardenia bush is that you can conveniently apply it on plants both in containers and on the ground.

That said, we found that the Miracle-Gro Shake’ N Fertilizer can negatively damage the growth of young trees if overapplied.

What we like

• Consistent release feeding
• Rich in natural ingredients for soil microbes’ growth
• Applicable to various tree types
• Available for ground and container application

What can be improved?

• Not ideal for young plants

Osmocote Smart-Release Plant Food – Best For Formula

The Osmocote Smart Release Plant Food wins our hearts for its formula fortified with 11 essential nutrients for acid-loving plants, especially gardenias. Thus, your trees can receive the optimal environment for their growth.

Moreover, this plant food can virtually work with every plant variety, so that you can use it for other plants in addition to gardenias.

Another plus point is its ability to feed up your crops within up to six whole months. You can save much effort, time, and budget for caring for your plants with this comprehensive formula.

There is no burn pledge when applied as instructed, so you can rest assured of its safety.

Is there any con? We have to say Yes. Unfortunately, the beads are plastic, which is not environmentally friendly.

What we like

• Fortified with critical nutritional elements
• Work with every kind of plants
• Long feeding result
• No burn pledge

What can be improved?

• Not environmentally friendly

Jobe’s 04101 Fertilizer Spikes – Best For Ease Of Use

The next position comes to Jobe’s Azalea Fertilizer Spikes. What makes it different from other suggestions is its ease of use. 

This plant food is pre-measured for the amount of nutrition you should apply to your plants. For that reason, you only need to open the package and put it on the plants’ roots.

Besides, it is specially designed for acid-loving plants like gardenias for its nutrient-rich formula. You can utilize these spikes for all seasons, providing continuous nourishment for your gardenias.

However, it appears to be slightly slow-releasing fertilizer. With this plant food, your plants will need to wait for a longer time than they would with other fertilizers.

What we like

• Straightforward application
• Laden with nutrients
• Continuous nourishment for gardenias

What can be improved?

• Slow releasing

Dr. Earth 703P Organic Acid Fertilizer – Best For Safety

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Our last nominee is the Dr.Earth 703P Organic 4 Acid Fertilizer. We love it as it is safe for people and pets when applied as instructed. 

On top of that, tt is made of 100% organic ingredients.

Furthermore, this pick includes probiotics and champion strains of beneficial microbes for the soil, not to mention the endo and ecto mycorrhizae.

This gardenia food can deliver exceptional results as the nutrients release quickly to feed your plants for various months.

The only downside of this Dr.Earth organic fertilizer is its unpleasant smell, making you feel uncomfortable and irritated.

What we like

• Safe to use for 100% organic matter
• The formula of probiotic and beneficial soil microbes
• Fast nutrient release

What can be improved?

• Irritating smell

A Complete Buying Guide On How To Choose The Best Fertilizer For Gardenias

What Are The Types Of Fertilizer For Gardenias?

Liquid Fertilizer

You should mix this type of fertilizer according to the instructions. Nevertheless, we recommend mixing it to half strength to avoid the abuse of fertilizer for your gardenias.

Several liquid fertilizers are designed to be used on the roots and leaves while others on the roots only. That’s why you should read the instructions carefully.

You can apply liquid fertilizers in many ways. For example, to cover vast areas quickly, it is best to use a sprayer.

Meanwhile, for smaller areas, you can try a container or a watering can that lets you mix the fertilizers well.

One more thing, you had better not check the pH of the soil several weeks after you apply the fertilizers. Instead, it pays to carry out another application.

Most liquid fertilizers for gardenias should be used from 1 to 2 times per month.

Spikes

It is the most straightforward kind of fertilizer you can apply to your plants. What you need to do is to insert them into the soil and water your plants properly.

Many spikes are meant to provide nutrients to the soil slowly. Thus, you don’t need to reapply regularly.

Granules

This fertilizer type is also slow-release. It comes with a coating slowly breaking down and letting the modest amounts of nutrients come to the soil at a time.

As mentioned above, the application depends on the products and the kinds of your plants. It is ideal for a new cropcorrect: nitrogen mixing the granules into the soil first and water generously.

You need to scatter granules around the roots of the plants and the waterline regarding established plants. Remember not to mix these fertilizers with water before applying them to your plants.

How To Choose The Right Fertilizer For Gardenias

Some nutrients essential for plant growth include phosphorus, nitrogen, potassium, sulfur, calcium, magnesium, boron, sodium, chlorine, iron, manganese, zinc, molybdenum, nickel, and copper.

These nutrients support all the fundamental functions of the plants. Without them, your crops cannot grow and will exhibit some negative deficiency symptoms.

As your plants, particularly gardenias, consistently feed on the critical nutrients in the soil, they can deplete the most fertile substrates. This feature makes it essential for homeowners to give fertilizers to grow healthy crops.

Fertilizers give nutrients to the soil and come in 3 key ingredients, including nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is an essential nutrient source for plant growth. It regulates vegetative growth and assimilates the crops into amino acids – considered the protein building blocks.

It is a key component of chlorophyll and keeps foliage green. Gardenias are acid-loving plants. Thus, to keep the right soil pH for gardenias, you should use a fertilizer added with the ammonium-based nitrogen sources.

Phosphorus

Phosphorus is a structural nutrient in DNA and RNA and necessary for root growth and flower development.

Potassium

Potassium works indirectly in the plants than the above nutrients. While it is not a component of any crop parts, it operates by initiating the enzymatic reactions, making it imperative for plant health.

Other Tips 

If you wonder where to plant gardenias for the best section, this tiny tip is for you. As you might know, this kind of flower prefers full sun conditions. 

However, in the summer months, we don’t recommend you put your plants in places that give too much sunlight to gardenias. 

Partial shade is appreciated during this time. It will keep your gardenias from scorching leaves and falling flower buds. 

Final Thoughts

So you have gone through the best fertilizer for gardenias reviews. The Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Azalea is our best fertilizer for its high performance in providing nourishment for plants. 

In short, all suggestions mentioned above can primarily meet your requirements of providing nutrients for your plants, particularly for gardenias. 

Anyway, if you have any further questions, please feel free to let us know. 

Thank you for reading!

Last update on 2024-03-16 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API